Femina, A Work for Every Woman

by John A. Miller

According to the extent of surface of both zinc and copper plates, exposed to the chemical action of the diluted sulphuric acid, or to the number of cells that are employed, by connecting the copper plate of one cell to the zinc plate of the next, the force and quantity of the electric current is correspondingly increased.

Batteries which consist of one solution and two metals rapidly lose their intensity, partly from the decrease in the chemical action owing to the neutralization of the sulphuric acid by its combination with the zinc, and partly from secondary currents, depositing a layer of hydrogen and metallic zinc on the copper plate, which destroys the dissimilarity of the metals, so that the electrical action ceases or the plates become polarized.

For this reason these single fluid batteries have almost entirely gone out of use, and batteries with two liquids have taken their place.

Electrolysis means to dissolve or decompose, by means of electricity, an organic or inorganic substance into its original elements. If, for instance, a current of electricity of four or five Bunsen’s cells is conducted to two inverted glass tubes, filled with water slightly acidulated to increase its conductivity, gas bubbles rise from the surface of each pole, and upon examination it is found that hydrogen is liberated at the negative pole and oxygen at the positive pole; and as the volume of hydrogen liberated is about twice that of oxygen, the experiment gives at once the qualitative and quantitative analysis of water.

Professor Bartholow, in his treatise on Medical Electricity says: “As animal tissues are composed of substances amenable to electrolytic decomposition, it is obvious that they must yield up their component elements in accordance with the laws of electrolysis. Albumen is coagulated, salts are separated into acids and bases, and water is resolved into oxygen and hydrogen. When the salts contained in the animal tissues—soda, potassa, lime—and water, are decomposed, the acids and oxygen appear at the positive pole, and the alkalies and hydrogen at the negative. It follows that if the positive electrode be composed of metal, it will be corroded by the action of chlorine and the acids, and the negative will remain unacted on and smooth. The tissues in the vicinity of each electrode are necessarily affected by the elements brought to them in accordance with chemical laws. About the positive the mineral acids and chlorine form combinations, and hence do not attack the tissues with the same energy as those about the negative pole. If, however, the positive electrode is composed of zinc, for example, the chlorine attacking it will form chloride of zinc, a very corrosive material. This principle has been utilized to produce caustic effects at the positive pole. Although the negative electrode remains smooth, much more than at the positive are seen these destructive effects from the action of the free alkali liberated in its neighborhood. When an ordinary electrode of carbon covered with soft sponge is made to conduct a strong galvanic current, the skin speedily becomes reddened, and may be made to ulcerate if the contact is sufficiently prolonged. If the carbon is applied directly, an intense burning is produced and the tissues are destroyed, leaving a slough, which is slowly detached and the ulcer remaining is difficult to heal. The caustic action is due chiefly to the soda, potash, and lime. Some effect must also be allowed to the disassociation of the tissues, to their transference from point to point and at the negative pole to the mechanical action of the liberated hydrogen.”

Interpolar regions. The reader must have been impressed with the peculiarity of each pole in possessing affinity or attraction for certain elements that constitute the animal tissue. Oxygen and acids accumulate around the positive pole, while alkalies are attracted to the negative pole; thus it must be an absolute fact that an actual transfer of particles in both directions to each pole must traverse the tissue lying between the two poles; this accounts in a great measure for the difference of the local effect on the tissues around the poles, one being in the nature of an acid the other of a caustic alkali. This naturally gave rise to an inquiry as to the effect that the galvanic current has on the structure between the two poles.

Dr. G. Betton Massey, author of “Electricity in the Diseases of Women,” asks and answers this question in the following manner: “What can be therapeutically accomplished when the seat of the disease is necessarily situated beyond the direct reach of the electrode? An answer drawn from both neurological and gynecological experience is that much can be accomplished; and this is doubtless due, in the first place, to the influence upon nutrition of the chemical changes that occur throughout the circuit, in the onward progress of the particles that appear free finally at the poles to the influence upon nutrition of the circulatory changes that result from vasomotor stimulation, and to the contractions produced in unstriated muscular tissue by heavy currents even at a distance. These results of quiet current transmission are governed in magnitude at a given spot by the density of the current at the situation and by the duration of the application. To accomplish much in the more distant parts of this region considerable strength must be employed, hence a delicate judgment is demanded in the selection of the size of the active pole to avoid cauterization on the one hand, and too great a diffusion on the other.”

To within a comparatively recent period, the methods of applying the electric current for the removal of abnormal growths have been somewhat crude if not dangerous. It appears that formerly altogether too much stress or weight was laid on the chemical or electrolytic effects that the electrodes wrought in the tissues, and very little or no credit was given to the passive current of galvanism as it traversed the tissues from pole to pole. Dr. Ephraim Cutter, of New York, advocated the so-called electro-puncture, and in the galvanic treatment of fibroid tumors of the uterus, these punctures were made through the abdominal walls. The electrodes for this purpose were stiletto shaped, with blades five inches long and three-eighths of an inch at their widest part; these were inserted into the tumor from opposite points. Wounds that were thus inflicted, necessarily involved more or less danger, and, although Dr. Cutter reported a great number of cures, the percentage of mishaps was too great to make electrical treatment popular among the profession.

It was not until Apostoli, a French physician, greatly modified the methods of employing electricity in the treatment of fibroid tumors, and sheared it in a great measure, not only of its dangers, but also of pain, that the medical profession took the question of electrical treatment in real earnest. The practice of Apostoli and his results were published in a monograph by Carlet, entitled, Du traitement electrique des tumeurs fibreuses de l’uterus, Paris, 1884. Apostoli evidently started out with a view to modify the most objectionable features of the electrical treatment. This consisted in reducing the number and size of the punctures and to lessen the painful sensation of the electric current to its minimum, so that the main points of difference are the shape and size of electrodes, and the site that is chosen for the puncture. In the first place he uses only one piercing or needle electrode, which is much smaller than that of Cutter, this may be attached to either the positive or negative cord of the battery, according to the accompanying symptoms. When hemorrhage is a symptom, the positive pole is used internally or carries the needle on account of its anti-hemorrhagic property, otherwise the negative pole carries the piercing electrode. This electrode is always used internally to puncture through the vagina or through the cervical tissue into the tumor; this is not nearly so painful as piercing the abdominal walls, nor does it wound the peritoneum.

The other electrode is called the dispersing electrode, because its purpose is to so disperse or scatter the current of this pole that it is hardly felt by the patient, much less produces any electrolytic or chemical effect on the skin. This electrode is made from a sheet of lead or copper nine by ten inches and covered with a layer of wet absorbent cotton; it is applied over the abdomen. This method is much safer than that formerly advocated by Dr. Cutter, and the results are much better. Dr. Engelman, who has accepted this method, says: “In electrolysis an intensity of 50 to 250 milliampères may be used for from three to eight minutes. All possible precautions must be taken in the first sitting in order to discover any idiosyncrasy of the patient, and a current of 50 milliampères will suffice, attained by slow increase. The patient should lie down quietly for several hours after the application. If an intensity as high as 100 milliampères is used at the first sitting, it is preferable that she remain in bed for the first twenty-four hours, and that a cold compress or an ice bag be placed upon the abdomen, to overcome any tendency to inflammatory reaction which may occur; hence the attention to details which is necessary, and the precautions desirable in a first puncture, until the sufferance of the individual patient is tested. The application is repeated, according to the demands of the case and the severity of the treatment, once or twice a week.”